26.3617, Summer Schools: Linguistics and Employability: The Case of Ulster’s “Language Made Fun” / Belfast, UK

Thu Aug 13 03:04:14 UTC 2015

LINGUIST List: Vol-26-3617. Wed Aug 12 2015. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 26.3617, Summer Schools:  Linguistics and Employability: The Case of Ulster’s “Language Made Fun” / Belfast, UK

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Date: Wed, 12 Aug 2015 23:03:34
From: Christina Sevdali [c.sevdali at ulster.ac.uk]
Subject: Linguistics and Employability: The Case of Ulster’s “Language Made Fun” / Belfast, UK

 Linguistics and Employability: The Case of Ulster’s “Language Made Fun” / Belfast, UK

Host Institution: University of Ulster
Coordinating Institution: University of Ulster

Dates: 25-Aug-2015 - 25-Aug-2015
Location: Belfast, United Kingdom

Focus: This is a training session on enhancing the employability of linguistics degrees, by creating a placement-like opportunity for linguistics students, by focusing on the "Language made fun" project at Ulster University (in partnership with Barnardo's NI).
Minimum Education Level: No Minimum

Description:
Linguistics is often regarded as a highly theoretical discipline with no obvious vocation. This is becoming increasingly problematic especially in relation to the employability agenda of all UK higher education institutions. Driven by a desire to enhance the employability of the Language and Linguistics graduates at Ulster University (among other things), Ulster Centre on Multiligualism (UCoM) (http://www.socsci.ulster.ac.uk/ucom/ ) in conjunction with Barnardo’s Northern Ireland have created “Language made fun."

“Language made fun” (LMF) is a play-based language intervention programme for school-aged children of refugees and asylum seekers whose first language is not English (English as an additional language – EAL speakers). It aims to support the language skills of young EAL learners (‘Newcomer pupils’) who may be vulnerable to exclusion and educational failure. 

LMF is run by linguistics student volunteers who carry out language interventions, which are designed to be fun and motivating. Initial language assessment sessions are recorded and analysed by the students supported by the linguistics staff at Ulster. Children are assessed formally and informally pre and post intervention. The linguistic analysis of the recorded sessions allows students to apply their linguistic knowledge and along with staff identify main errors made by children. This then leads to the development of target intervention sessions. LMF has now run for two years and initial evaluation has indicated positive outcomes both for language, and also confidence in communicating in English. The LMF project is now funded by The Big Lottery Fund for five more years and is envisaged to be an optional placement component of the Language and Linguistics degree at Ulster University. 

This training course is designed to disseminate the main findings of the LMF project to interested parties who would like to establish similar projects in collaboration with us. We envisage the session to take the form of a Google Hangout and have the following format:

- Initial presentation of the project from UCoM staff
- Discussion and questions;
- Concluding remarks and possible collaborations/extension of the existing programme

We propose the date of the 25th of August to organize the Google hangout. Please email us ASAP expressing interest and we can create a doodle pool to find the best time for all parties.

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics

Tuition: 0 USD

Registration: 16-Aug-2015 to 23-Aug-2015

Contact Person: Christina Sevdali
                Email: c.sevdali at ulster.ac.uk

Apply by Email: c.sevdali at ulster.ac.uk

Registration Instructions:
N/A

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